Paver Stones

I've been trying to lay a few paver stones in the back yard to extend the small concrete pad behind the house. Unfortunately, this slightly reduces the size of the future garden, but its a sacrifice that needs to be made. The stones I used were from a stack that the previous owners had kindly left us for no apparent reason. Now, I don't know that these are technically "paver" stones. More like brick and/or concrete tiles. They're about 1.5" thick and varying sizes. I laid out some stones preliminarily in the pattern I wanted. This is what it looked like at first.

For a few of the pieces, I had to break them to the desired size. For that, I just smacked them on the edge of the concrete pad. It worked pretty well. The break lines aren't perfectly straight, but its good enough. Next I moved the stones out of the way and dug down so about three inches below the level of the concrete pad. Check out how nice that dirt looks!!

I had purchased a 0.5 cubic foot bag of pebbles, and another 0.5 cubic foot bag of coarse sand. The area I'm doing is about 6ft by 18 inches, so that should be about 2/3in thick layer of each of those things. These materials are specifically for laying pavers and it suggests a 1" thick layer of each, so I figured I'd be fine. Here is what it looks like after putting down the first layer and walking around on it to compact it a bit.

Next comes the sand stuff. Again, I walked around on this to firmly compact it. I then put one of the stones down on the sand to check the level.

Its hard to see from the picture but the top of the stone is a good 1" or more below the level of the concrete pad. Whoops. Not only did I dig up too much dirt, but when I compacted the stone and sand it seemed to just sink right into the dirt and take up no space.

So lets fast-forward 6 days later. I bought two more bags of pebbles and another bag of sand. First, though I put much of the dirt that I had dug up back over the first couple layers. Then I stomped around on it a while to compact it.

I then put one and half bags of the pebbles down on the dirt, compacted that and then put about 2/3 of the bag of sand on that and compacted it again. If you're wondering why the color of the sand is different, I bought it from a different home improvement store. Same basic thing, though.

Finally, time to put the stones back on and check the level.

Ugh. Apparently I need to do some leveling and stabilizing. That took a surprising amount of time, the rest of the pebbles, most of the rest of the sand, and all the remaining dirt I had left. I did reserve a small amount of the sand to put in a couple of the bigger gaps between stones. Here is the finished product.

I might be a bit biased, but it looks pretty good to me!! If you're wondering why I'm doing this in the first place, there is a reason, but you're just going to have to wait for a future post to find out. Oooh, suspense!

And just to make this a bit more garden related, I'll throw in a gratuitous closeup of the cover crops. That grass sure does look happy!

Dr. Konstantin Frank Rkatsiteli - 6.0

This wine review is for the 2006 Dr. Konstantin Frank Rkatsiteli. Yes, that is the name of the wine. To prove it, I have a picture.

You might be asking "what the heck is Rkatsiteli?" Well, its a type of white grape primarily grown in Georgia (the country). It is one of the oldest known cultivated grapes (at least 3000BC). I know this not only because of Wikipedia, but also because the guy serving me this at a tasting told me so. Yes, thats right, this is not a wine of the month bottle, this is one I purchased at the winery. Dr. Konstantin Frank was one of the first people to be serious about growing grapes and making wine in the Finger Lakes. He even gets his own Wiki page! His winery on Seneca lake is still going strong and some people say it is the "best" in the Finger lakes. Anyway, you know I'm probably going to give this wine a good review if I bought it, but lets get on with it, shall we?

It has a fruity odor plus a rather earthy odor, not unlike the smell from when I opened the box of my homegrown mushroom kit (earlier this year). It is a bit on the sour side, but has a good amount of sweetness to balance that. Rather than just having a sour/bitter sweet/dry flavor, this has a good amount of actual grape flavor. I get some orange and mango flavors. A slight mustiness as well. I would say its not unlike a Riesling or Gewurtztraminer (which I am both partial to). Not a lot to complain about except that it might be a bit more sour than it needs to be.

Jaime says she gets some fruitiness and some definite grape flavor. It is sour, but not overly so. But there is some flavor in it that she really doesn't like, and can't quite pin down. She says that maybe she can taste the alcohol in it, and that might be what she doesn't like. [I think she's just crazy, thats all]

Peter gives this wine an 8 out of 10. I would buy this (obviously) as long as its not crazy expensive. When I bought it, it was $17, which is on the high side of what I would normally want to pay for a bottle of wine.

Jaime gives this wine a 4 out of 10.

Amalaya Vino Tinto - 2.5

Today's review is the 2006 Amalaya Vino Tinto from Argentina.

The odor is not real pleasant. In addition to the alcohol smell, I note somewhat of a turpentine scent. Its got a rather dry bite to it, but not overwhelmingly so. I notice a somewhat strong smokey flavor. Also a woody, oakey taste. Perhaps it was stored in burnt out oak barrels. I'm noticing the negatives, but not really noticing any positives. Overall, not so good.

Jaime fell asleep before she was able to give me her full review, but she did manage to give her rating and say that I could have her glass because "it would be a waste" for her to drink it.

Peter gives this wine a 3 out of 10. I probably wouldn't buy this unless it was dirt cheap.

Jaime gives this wine a 2 out of 10.

Campus Oaks Zinfandel - 6.5

Today's wine review is the 2006 Campus Oaks Zinfandel from California.

It has an appealing odor and is moderately dry and sour. I'm definitely getting some chocolate flavor in this one. A bit of oakiness as well. Its pretty good. I'm enjoying my tasting. Nothing to complain about. Just another solid California red...*yawn*.

Jaime didn't like it at first, but it grew on her after it had some time to breathe. "Not too dry, a touch of sour". "Doesn't have much of an aftertaste." "I get a hint of cherry".

Peter gives this wine a 7 out of 10. I would buy this if I saw it.

Jaime gives this wine a 6 out of 10.

Hidden Leaf Chenin Blanc - 5.0

This post is a review of of Hidden Leaf Cellars Chenin Blanc from California. Hallie is doing a wonderful job of modeling for us!

I don't know anything about Chenin, so I checked out the wiki page.

"Chenin blanc (also Pineau de la Loire and Gout fort), is a variety of white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled."

Interesting that is says that about the acidity, because the first thing I thought when I tasted it was, "Wow, thats sour." The general rule for wines (I think) is that the sweeter the wine is, the more sour/acidic it should be. However, this is only mildly sweet. The sourness kind of dominates the flavor. Its not vinegary, it just seems really acidic. If I had to pick flavors off of my color wheel, I'd say olive and asparagus. That sounds pretty bad, but its really not. I wish the olive and asparagus flavors were stronger and the acidity less strong.

How come every wine description that I read uses fruits and dessert flavors? I suppose "sauerkraut", "wet-dog", and "soy-sauce" aren't real appealing to the recreational wine taster, but about 2/3 of the wine wheel is being completely ignored. Don't worry, I'm here to bring it back!

Jaime says: "It has a bit of tartness, but nothing overwhelming". "I like the flavor, but it doesn't have as much sweetness as I'd like."

Peter gives this wine a 4 out of 10. I probably wouldn't purchase this wine unless I saw it in the $3.99 bin.

Jaime gives this wine a 6 out of 10. "I would drink this, but I wouldn't go looking for it in a store."